Schools add labor post amid freeze

$131,000 job was created as other San Diego Unified hiring was stayed

Fresh from the passage of California’s Proposition 30 tax increase to fund schools, the San Diego Unified School District earlier this year added an administrative position that pays $131,000 a year.

The job, executive labor relations chief, was not advertised. It went to Jennifer Carbuccia, a friend of school board member Richard Barrera, at his suggestion.

The board hired Carbuccia on Jan. 22, the same meeting that it announced it would impose a districtwide hiring freeze to help close a projected $88 million deficit to next year’s $1.1 billion operating budget.

Virtually all jobs left vacant through attrition — including teaching positions — this year will go unfilled, save for those that are considered crucial to district operations. San Diego Unified will also sell off surplus real estate and raise class sizes next year.

Yes
7% (27)

No
93% (359)

386 total votes.

Carbuccia is former deputy director of human resources for the city of San Diego. She will work with employee unions and use her skills as an attorney to provide legal counsel on collective bargaining matters.

Barrera said San Diego Unified has long needed an administrator to oversee labor issues and work with both human resources and legal departments on union matters.

“Going back over a year, (board President) John Evans, myself and the superintendent began talking about the need to create a position in the district that could work with the unions and the staff on a higher level that wasn’t being served,” Barrera said. “I have known Jenny for some time. I encouraged her to have a conversation with the superintendent,= and he was impressed.”

Barrera said his friendship with Carbuccia had nothing to do with the district’s decision to create the position and give it to her.

“I don’t go around recommending friends of mine for jobs,” said Barrera, a community organizer who has deep roots in the labor community. “If I know that there are talented people that can help the district, I’m going to do my best to bring those people into the district.”

Superintendent Bill Kowba said there is a limited pool of expertise in specialized fields, such as labor relations. The district chose not to advertise the new position or seek applicants because he said earlier efforts to find labor experts were unsuccessful. He said Carbuccia was a good fit.

San Diego Unified posted an opening for a director of labor relations position (with a salary range of about $93,000 to $119,000) twice in the spring of 2011, said Deputy Superintendent Phil Stover. Both job postings garnered only one candidate, in part because the salary was too low, he said.

At Barrera’s suggestion, the district upgraded the job — and salary — to an executive director status an offered it to Carbuccia with no new posting.

The January recommendation to establish the new job and award it to Carbuccia was included on the superintendent’s consent agenda, a list of mostly routine matters that are approved by the school board without discussion. It was approved 4-0 with Scott Barnett absent.